What is a Exhibitor Agreement?

This template is written for exhibitors, vendors, promoters and event organisers, so that both sides can see what was promised, what it costs, and what happens if circumstances change.

19 details are captured across 6 areas: parties and contact details, scope and deliverables, payment and financial terms, dates, timing and duration, event logistics, and legal protections and risk. Together they fix what the organiser owes the exhibitor, measured in booths rather than in adjectives.

Where these agreements go wrong, it is usually a booth position changed after the space was paid for rather than a defect in the boilerplate. Events have a hard deadline and no second chance. The clauses that matter are the ones dealing with cancellation, postponement, final numbers and what happens if a supplier fails to appear.

The preview updates live as you complete each field, so you can review the exact language before downloading it as PDF or Word. Treat the result as a well-organised first draft: sound in structure, but worth an attorney's review where the sums involved are significant or the situation is unusual.

What matters most in a exhibitor agreement

Event rules bind exhibitors

Setup and breakdown times, health and safety requirements and insurance minimums are usually mandatory conditions of participation.

Cancellation by the organiser

Understand what happens if the event is cancelled or postponed — refund, credit or nothing at all.

Insurance requirements

Public liability cover is normally a condition of access, often at a stated minimum limit.

When you need a exhibitor agreement

  • When the counterparty is new to you: With no track record between the parties, the written terms do the work that familiarity would otherwise do. That is exactly when precision pays for itself.
  • When replacing an earlier arrangement: Issue a fresh exhibitor agreement when the original terms no longer reflect what the parties actually do. Amending informally leaves two inconsistent records of one relationship.
  • When a deposit or advance is held: Record the amount, what it secures, and the conditions and timescale for its return. Deposit disputes are among the most common disputes there are.
  • When the cancellation scale and whether the fee is transferable has value: Where something is still owed after the close of the show, that obligation needs its own words. Anything expected to survive the end of the agreement has to say so.
  • When the parties are in different places: Naming the governing law and the forum in advance prevents a costly preliminary fight about where any dispute is even heard.
  • When money changes hands: Record what the exhibitor owes, when each booth falls due, and what follows a late payment. These are the clauses relied on most often and left vague most often.

What to include in a exhibitor agreement

This generator collects 19 details. Here is what each group covers and why it matters when the document is relied on.

Parties and contact details

Name the organiser and the exhibitor as legal entities rather than as the people you deal with day to day. The individual you email is rarely the party that can be enforced against.

Client Name
The full legal name of the client commissioning the work. Use the registered company name rather than a trading name so the party is identifiable if the agreement is ever enforced.
Client Address
The client's registered or principal business address. This is the address used for formal notices, invoices and any legal service of documents.
Vendor Name
The supplying business's legal name as it appears on its invoices and registration.
Vendor Address
The vendor's business address for purchase orders and notices.

Scope and deliverables

Measure the exhibition space rather than describing it. A scope stated in booths can be checked at the close of the show; one stated in adjectives cannot.

Description of Services
What the provider will actually do, described specifically enough that a third party could judge whether it was delivered.

Payment and financial terms

Tie each payment to something observable — a delivered booth, a date, or the close of the show — rather than to a general sense that enough has been done.

Total Fee
The full amount payable, broken into deposit and balance so both sides know exactly what falls due and when.
Deposit
The upfront amount securing the booking, and whether it is refundable. Say plainly what happens to the deposit on cancellation.
Payment Schedule
When each payment falls due, tied to dates or milestones. A clear schedule is the most effective protection against slow payment.

Dates, timing and duration

Use calendar dates, not relative triggers. "On approval" cannot be located on a calendar, which means it cannot be used to show that anyone is late.

Effective Date
The date the agreement takes effect. This can differ from the signature date, and it is the date obligations start running from.
Event Date
The date of the event, including the year. For multi-day events list each date covered.

Event logistics

Access times, headcount and setup windows are what suppliers commit their own costs against. Fix the deadline by which each is confirmed.

Event Type
The kind of event, which drives staffing, licensing and insurance requirements.
Event Location
The venue name and full address, plus the specific rooms or areas being used.
Guest Count
The expected number of attendees and the deadline for confirming final numbers, since pricing usually depends on it.
Setup Time
Access times for setup and breakdown. Venues frequently charge for overrun, so agree the window in writing.
Performance Hours
The exact hours of performance or service, and the rate for overtime beyond them.
Cancellation Policy
The refund position at each stage before the date. A sliding scale tied to notice given is fairer and more enforceable than a flat no-refund rule.

Legal protections and risk

These are the clauses nobody reads until something goes wrong, at which point they are the only clauses that matter.

Force Majeure
Which extraordinary events excuse performance. Post-2020 clauses commonly name epidemics and government orders expressly rather than relying on general wording.
Insurance Requirements
The cover each party must carry, the minimum limits, and whether the other party must be named as an additional insured.
Governing State
The state whose law governs the agreement. Choose a state connected to the parties or the work, as a wholly unconnected choice may not be respected.

Completing this exhibitor agreement

Dates that drive obligations

Use calendar dates rather than relative triggers such as "on approval", which cannot be measured. Dates determine when obligations start, when they end, and when someone is late.

Describing the exhibition space

The strongest version of this exhibitor agreement describes the exhibition space in terms someone outside the deal could check — quantities, booths, dates and standards. Write it so a reader who was not in the room can tell whether it has been done.

Attaching the floor plan and the exhibitor manual

The floor plan and the exhibitor manual carries most of the evidential weight here. Attach it as a schedule and refer to it by name in the body, rather than leaving it as an email nobody can find later.

Defining the close of the show

Say what has to be true for the close of the show to have happened and who confirms it. An undefined completion test is the reason obligations sit open long after the work is finished.

Reading it as the other side would

Before signing, read the exhibitor agreement from the counterparty's position and look for anything you would exploit. If you find something, so will they.

Common mistakes to avoid

  1. No record of what was handed over. List what passes between the parties and when. Reconstructing that list months later, from memory, is how honest people end up in genuine disagreement.
  2. Ignoring who owns the output. Say who ends up owning what is produced, and at what point ownership moves. Where nothing is written, ownership usually stays with whoever created it — rarely what the exhibitor assumes.
  3. Treating the close of the show as self-evident. State exactly what has to be true for the close of the show to have been reached, and who confirms it. Without a test, one side thinks the obligation is discharged while the other is still waiting.
  4. Leaving the cancellation scale and whether the fee is transferable to good faith. Good faith is not a plan. Write down what happens after the close of the show, because that is the point at which the parties' interests stop being aligned.
  5. Using approximate dates. Use calendar dates rather than triggers like "on approval" or "once ready". A date that cannot be located on a calendar cannot be used to show that someone is late.

How to use this exhibitor agreement generator

  1. Fill in the form. Fill in the 19 fields, starting with the parties. Have the floor plan and the exhibitor manual to hand before you begin, because several of the entries will be taken directly from it. Nothing is sent to a server — the document is assembled in your browser.
  2. Read the preview. Check the preview against the floor plan and the exhibitor manual. Where the two disagree, the document is the version that will be relied on, so fix it here.
  3. Download and sign. Export as PDF to sign, or as Word to keep working on it. Store the signed version somewhere both the organiser and the exhibitor can find it, along with the floor plan and the exhibitor manual.

Exhibitor Agreement — frequently asked questions

What happens if a trade show is cancelled?

It depends entirely on the exhibitor terms, and many favour the organiser heavily — offering a credit toward a future event rather than a refund, particularly where cancellation results from force majeure. Read the cancellation and force majeure clauses before paying, and consider event cancellation insurance if the stand build and travel represent a significant outlay.

What is the most important thing to get right in a exhibitor agreement?

The description of the exhibition space. Almost every later clause — price, timing, whether the close of the show has been reached — refers back to it, so an imprecise description there weakens the whole document. State it in booths and attach the floor plan and the exhibitor manual rather than relying on a general description both sides read differently.

How detailed does the exhibitor agreement need to be?

Detailed enough that someone who was not part of the conversation could read it and tell whether each side has done what it promised. That is the standard a court applies, and it is a useful test to run over your own draft before signing.

Which state's law should govern this exhibitor agreement?

Choose a state with a genuine connection to the parties or the subject matter — where a party is based, or where the work or property is located. A choice with no connection at all may not be respected, and for property or employment the local state's rules will often apply regardless of what the contract says.

What makes a cancellation policy enforceable?

It has to reflect genuine loss rather than operate as a penalty. A sliding scale — non-refundable deposit, then an increasing share of the balance as the date nears — mirrors the real cost of turning away other bookings, which is why it holds up far better than a blanket no-refund rule.

What does the force majeure clause actually cover?

Only the events it names. General wording about circumstances beyond a party's control has been read narrowly by courts, which is why clauses written since 2020 tend to list epidemics, government orders and venue closures expressly. Add the specific events that would realistically stop performance in your situation.

What should the cancellation policy say?

Use a sliding scale: the deposit is non-refundable, then a rising percentage of the balance becomes payable as the date approaches — for example fifty percent within sixty days and the full fee within fourteen. It reflects genuine lost opportunity, which is exactly what makes it enforceable.

What happens if the venue becomes unavailable?

This is what the force majeure clause is for. Say expressly whether the fee is refunded, held against a new date, or partially retained to cover work already done. Name venue closure and government restriction as triggers rather than relying on generic wording.